Trauma and Attachment Certification Course

CPD

Handouts

Speaker

Lois Ehrmann, PhD, LPC, NCC, CTTS Related seminars and products

E-Counseling and Consultation Services

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Lois Ehrmann, PhD, LPC, NCC, CTTS, is a trauma-informed and sensitive clinician who works with individuals and families who suffer from trauma, abuse and attachment issues. She is the founder of The Individual and Family CHOICES Program, a holistic trauma-informed counseling center in State College, PA, that has been providing cutting-edge trauma-informed therapy for over 10 years. Prior to that she co-owned a dual diagnosis outpatient counseling program called Counseling Alternatives Group for over 18 years. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey and has been in clinical practice for over 30 years, specializing in trauma and attachment for over 22 years.

A Certified Trauma Treatment Specialist (CTTS), Lois is also an Approved Consultant and Certified Clinician in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDRIA) as well as a Certified Internal Family Systems Clinician. Trained in IFS Levels 1, 2 and 3 as well as Somatic IFS, she has introduced the IFS model to the children and families she works with, as well as groups of parents of traumatized children and to professional healers who work with traumatized families. Lois is a Registered ATTACh Clinician, Certified Attachment Focused Family Therapist/Consultant and an Approved Clinical Supervisor (NCE). In addition, she is a trained neurofeedback clinician and trained in clinical hypnosis.

Lois is a sought-after trainer both locally and nationally and is also an adjunct assistant professor in counselor education and supervision at PSU. She has presented nationally for many years for the National ATTACh Conference and until very recently served on that organization’s board of directors. Lois has also presented annually for the Internal Family Systems Conference specifically focusing on the use of IFS with children and families struggling with attachment issues.

Lois is the co-author of a book on best practices in attachment therapy and has self-published books for children and their parents on attachment and Internal Family Systems concepts. She was the lead researcher in the development of the Internal Family Systems Adherence Scale for the Internal Family System Foundation.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Lois Ehrmann is owner of E-Counseling and Consultation Services. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Lois Ehrmann is a member of the American Counseling Association (ACA), the Association for the Training and Treatment of Attachment Disorders In Children (ATTACh), the American Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors (ACES), the Chi Sigma Iota Honor Society for Counselors and Counselor Educators (CSI), EMDR International Association (EMDRIA), and the Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists (ATSS).

Alternate Options

Objectives

1. Articulate the neurological impact of trauma on attachment in children and adolescents and how current research informs treatment planning.
2. Differentiate between the clinical presentation of children and adolescents who exhibit insecure vs. secure vs. disorganized attachment.
3. Implement trauma and attachment assessments to develop observable and measurable treatment plan goals.
4. Implement the “internal working model” intervention to clarify the client’s attachment category to inform treatment planning.
5. Operationalize the core treatment goals into measurable objectives in the treatment of trauma and attachment.
6. Implement the Integrated Attachment and Trauma Timeline Strategy (IATTS) to organize and construct the client’s trauma narrative.
7. Utilize the client’s trauma narrative to process attachment disruptions and trauma responses.
8. Apply bilateral tapping to reduce the intensity of strong affect and/or to amplify a strength resource.
9. Integrate elements of Internal Family Systems psychotherapy to map out a child’s problematic behavior and the parent’s responses to the behavior.
10. Utilize bibliotherapy to teach children, adolescents and families the concepts of Internal Family Systems psychotherapy to improve treatment outcomes.
11. Integrate resource tapping (EMDR) into Attachment Focused Family Therapy to increase the strength of attachment and healthy regulation in children, adolescents and families.
12. Teach clients mindfulness-based breath work, guided imagery and sensory awareness to improve affect regulation.

Outline

Attachment Theory and Attachment Therapy

• Recent influences in attachment theory and therapy
• Attachment importance in the development of the healthy individual
• Attachment styles vs. disorganized attachment
• Neuroscience supporting bottom up therapeutic strategies
• DSM-5®: Classification of trauma and stressor-related disorders

Neurological Impact of Trauma and Attachment

• How the research informs treatment
• Trauma is stored/stuck in the right hemisphere
• Chronic activation of the fight/flight/freeze response (Amygdala issues)
• The reason for the stuckness
• Cortisol and its impact on cognitive impairment

Indicators of Trauma and Attachment Disruption

• Common diagnostic mistakes
• Characteristics of the children and adults
• View attachment as a continuum

Assessments for Trauma and Attachment Wounds Case Studies and Video Sessions

• Protocol to assess the strength and health of the parental/caregiver system
• Most effective scales, measures and instruments
• Methods to explain the Internal Working Model of the child to the parent/caregiver
• Diagnostic considerations/Differential diagnosis
  • Complex Trauma, Complex PTSD, Developmental Trauma, Disorganized Attachment, Reactive Attachment Disorder

Translate Trauma and Attachment Goals into SMART Objectives

• Core treatment goals
  • Relational factors between client/therapist and child/ parent/caregiver
  • Dismantling the individual’s unhealthy negative internal working model
  • Increase the level of affective mastery
  • Reduce distancing defenses Increase attachment within healthy relationships and for adults with their own children
  • Containment of rage anger and pain so that resolution can occur
• How to operationalize goals into measurable objectives

The Integrated Attachment and Trauma Timeline Strategy (IATTS): Help Children and Families Unpack their History

• A guide to move from assessment to treatment
• Techniques to clarify and construct the client’s cohesive narrative
• Methods to “chunk” overwhelming and disorganized historical material
• Integrates with evidence-base treatment modalities
  • Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)
  • Internal Family Systems (IFS)
  • Attachment Focused Family Therapy
  • Bibliotherapy Expressive Therapies and Somatic Psychotherapy

BOTTOM UP TECHNIQUES: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER WITH PRACTICE TIME!

A Child Who Had No Safety: Case Study

• A view of Attachment Focused Family Therapy
• Healthy vs. disrupted attachment/bonding cycle
• Intersubjectivity and Attunement: What being in sync does/does not look like
• PACE: Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy
• Co-regulation of affect and co-creation of experiences

When Traumatized Children are Broken into Many Parts: Case Study

• Secure vs. anxious and avoidant attachment styles
• Disorganized attachment: Recognize the signs
• How attachment impacts parent-child dyads
• Integrate IFS into Attachment Focused Family Therapy
• Parts work through sand tray, art strategies and puppetry

Repair the Fracture with Adoptive Parents: Case Study

• Clarify the trauma and negative internal working model
• Parts mapping: Teach parts concepts to children and parents
• Integrate Bibliotherapy into IFS
• Assist parents how to engage in self-led parenting

Protecting Sibling and Self In Foster Care: Case Study

• Protector parts activity/worksheet
• Teach children to use their inner imagination to work with their part
• Transform terror into trust

The Rage that Comes from Physical Abuse: Case Study

• When children reenact the trauma of abuse
• See the positive intention in all parts
• Teach compassion, curiosity, calmness and connectedness through
• Expressive therapies

Parts that Children Wall Off: Case Study

• Terrified of being terrified
• The freeze of the Fight Flight Freeze Trauma Response
• Help children understand their own thoughts, feelings, behaviors and experiences

When Parents and Children Both Have Activated Parts: Case Study

• Activation Parts Map: Z-Process
• Naming and witnessing the activated parts
• Helping the parts understand each other

Full of Rage with No Where to Go: Case Study

• Integrate EMDR into Attachment Focused Family Therapy
• Teach parents and children resource tapping and positive self-talk
• Use tapping as part of imaginal nurturing
• Calming and self-regulating strategies from EFT Naming feelings with bilateral drumming

Other Trauma Specific Evidence-base Treatment Modalities

• What they are used for and why clients seem to respond well
• Sensorimotor psychotherapy
• Mindfulness-based approaches including breath work and imagery
• Biofeedback and EEG Biofeedback
• Limitations of the related research and risks of each approach

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Certified Case Managers
• Occupational Therapists
• Other Helping Professionals Who Work with Children